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Hamy PocketGame (portable Nintendo NES clone) review

Purchase

In September 2010, I went again to the Ilianci stock bazaar for purchases of some clothes and browsing for interesting goods. I visited the same shop, from where last year I purchased the GSD-1988 Nintendo NES Clone and to my surprise there was still old console goods for sale. After a browse for some Sega Mega Drive and Nintendo cartridges, I negotiated to buy a whole package of sixty-five NES cartridges, one Sega Mega Drive cartridge (2 in 1 with Valis and Paperboy) and WiWi console (Console with Wii-alike controllers, NES compatibility and some 16-bit alike games). While browsing the consoles I saw the Extreme Land Sega Mega Drive clone is still on sale, along with many other NES keyboards (Famiclones). I noticed a little white portable console called Hamy. After asking the seller what is it - he said it plays all the NES games, Contra and the others, plus it is portable and can work with batteries and/or power supply. With some negotiations, we had a deal for the console, two NES cartridges and universal power adapter for the price of 25 BGN.

Package

Hamy console - package and contents. The console comes in stylish 20 x 16 x 6 cm paper box. On the top of the box is picture of the console with nothing running on the screen. On the top-left corner is the Hamy® logo with the Model:HG-112. On the bottom, is more detailed description of the console, the buttons and the outputs. There is a little hint about the console compatibility with the described features:

  • BIG2.4" COLOR TFT SCREEN
  • DIGITAL MULTI PLATFORM DEVICE
  • TV OUT FUNCTION FOR USE WITH PLAY ON TV
  • COMPACT AND LIGHT MOBILE
  • BUILT IN 76 IN 1 8-BIT GAMES
On the left and the right sides of the box, under the Pokemon alike PocketGame logo is written Digital Pocket Hand Held system. Inside the box are the console, a wrist strap, Audio-Video Cable, four AAA batteries and manual. The manual is very small - written on A5 paper, only one page, with blank second page. There is only a little more information in the manual, than the information already available on the box. After reading the manual and the box, checking if everything is okay, I started to test the console.

Usage




I found the console very easy to use. Just turn on the power button and there you go. When inserting cartridges, as seen on the video, sometimes the console refuses to start. This is because the cartridge is not properly seated. Because my NES cartridges are very old, some of them did not work when inserted for the first time. In such situations, remove the cartridge and insert it again, more carefully. Most of the time it will work when properly seated. When playing games on cartridges, the player have to be careful and not shake the console much, else there is a risk to freeze the game, if the cartridge gets reseated. Another detail to be taken into account when playing from batteries. If there is not much power charge in the batteries, the voice will be distorted and the picture will flash as a signal for the need of new batteries.

Hardware

Hamy console front view with the game Contra running on it. The dimensions of the Hamy PocketGame are 14,5 X 8 X 2,5 cm. The console single chip Nintendo NES clone, turned into portable device, thanks to the LCD screen. The plastic is okay, it is not yellow yet, the buttons are easy to press and the pad is easy for playing all kind of games. On the left of the LCD display is the directional pad and the volume minus and plus buttons. On the right of the LCD display are the RESET, PAUSE and START buttons, along with the A, B, X and Y gaming buttons. There is a green diode above the buttons, which is on, when the console is showing its output on the LCD screen. The button for turn on and off of the console is at bottom, on the left. At the bottom right is the earphones plug. On the top-left is the DC in plug. Unfortunately, the adapter I bought did not have the right jack for usage with the console. I also tried the adaptors from the GSD-1988, the Extreme Land consoles and even the Nokia N-Gage, but none of them was able to match the plug-in. A minus for the console, for not using the same jacks as the other NES compatible consoles. On top-right part of the console is the plug for the Audio-Video cable. Hamy console back view with opened cover of the batteries. The hook for attaching the wrist strap is on the left side of the console. At the back of the console is the cartridge slot and the batteries cover. When opening the cover, there is space for four AAA batteries. The batteries cover is very easy to open. All the plugs of the console are described with small text or figure, so the user will not wonder which plug-in for what is. The console gives me very professional impression. It is not heavy to lift and play with it. It is easy to wear even with inserted cartridge. The easy manipulation, the instant boot and the decent, almost mobile phone quality of the output picture makes it to look even more professional to me. The refresh time of the display seems very fast. There were no trails on the screen, even in the fast shooting games, where the sprites and the objects move very fast. If the display had a slow reaction and refresh time, it would be a very big issue in such action games. What I enjoy most of the console is the very low battery usage. With the original batteries, I played for hours on the LCD display and or TV and there is not yet any signal of low battery charge. It is not just another cheap NES clone, made for a single day use.

Software

The games built-in the console are:

  • 01.CONTRA QQE
  • 02.ALADDIN III RJZ
  • 03.WORLD SOCCER KIW
  • 04.KING OF FIGHTER AGG
  • 05.TEKKEN IXM
  • 06.WWF SKD
  • 07.TETRIS II OMP
  • 08.SUPER MARIO SWQ
  • 09.ARKONOID IKM
  • 10.1942 CQS
  • 11.STAR FORCE EKA
  • 12.F1 RACE WMO
  • 13.POPEYE PXY
  • 14.GALAZA UEV
  • 15.BOMB JACK SLC
  • 16.BIRD WEEK CTU
  • 17.FIVE CHESS CUC
  • 18.STAR GATE HJN
  • 19.SPACE ET EAM
  • 20.MARIO BROS SCS
  • 21.EXERION QEE
  • 22.ROAD FIGHTER JZW
  • 23.DIG DUG I IWE
  • 24.TWIN BEE GGY
  • 25.BINARY LAND XMP
  • 26.DOOR DOOR KDI
  • 27.SPARTANX MPN
  • 28.10 YARD FIGHT WQO
  • 29.CLAY KMO
  • 30.SWING GAME QSK
  • 31.CLIMB ROPE KAQ
  • 32.SINGLE ROPE MOS
  • 33.DONKEY KONG 2 XYK
  • 34.LOAD RUNNER 2 EVQ
  • 35.FRONT LINE LCA
  • 36.ANTARCTIC TUY
  • 37.SKY DESTROYER UCF
  • 38.BALLOON FIGHT JNV
  • 39.MILLIPEDE AMM
  • 40.CIRCUS CHABLIF CSO
  • 41.GOLF EER
  • 42.CLU CLU LAND ZWK
  • 43.DESERT TANK WEA
  • 44.COMBAT GYT
  • 45.BASEBALL MPS
  • 46.URBAN CHAMPION DIO
  • 47.MACROSS PNS
  • 48.MILK NUTS QOI
  • 49.SLALOM MOC
  • 50.SPEED TANK SRE
  • 51.ELEVATOH AQW
  • 52.BRUSH ROLL OSP
  • 53.ICE CLIMBER YKU
  • 54.HOGAN ALLEY VQS
  • 55.BURGER TIME CAC
  • 56.PACMAN UYC
  • 57.ZIPPY RACE CFH
  • 58.CALCULATOR NVE
  • 59.CLAY SHOOTING MMS
  • 60.TOY STORY SOQ
  • 61.TENNIS ERI
  • 62.PIN BALL WKI
  • 63.LUNAR BALL EAG
  • 64.MONKEY YIX
  • 65.SQOON PSK
  • 66.POOYAN IOM
  • 67.JOUST NWS
  • 68.DUCK HUNT OIK
  • 69.GYRODINE OCQ
  • 70.EXCITE BIKE REK
  • 71.FORMATION Z QWM
  • 72.PAINTER SPX
  • 73.MAPPY KUF
  • 74.BOMBER MAN QSL
  • 75.MAGIC JEWELRY ACT
  • 76.DEVIL WORLD YCU
There are three letters after each game name, which I was unable to decipher what are they. The selection of the built-in games in the console is very good, offering wide range of genres for everyone's taste. Almost all the Nintendo NES games on cartridges I have tried worked without any flaw. The only Nintendo NES software, which refused to work and crashed the console were the GSD-1988 specific titles, requiring keyboard. For example the G BASIC did not work. The educational titles requiring keyboard were impossible to play.

Accessories

I don't have any accessories for the console and was unable to test anything on it.

Conclusion

The Hamy PocketGame Famiclone is yet another Nintendo NES clone, but with very good LCD display, low battery usage and nice features. With the cartridge slot it is decent portable machine for testing NES software. I can use it when going to buy NES games. With the ability to connect directly to TV and the input of adapter it is nice replacement for the bigger NES clones. It was worth the price I paid for it, and I like it very much. The built-in games are well selected. As a plus, now I have a platform to test the tens of NES cartridges I have and enjoy all the games, on the LCD or on TV, at home or while travelling.


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